NEW YORK — Thom Dellwo, financial education coordinator at Cooperative Federal Credit Union in Syracuse, N.Y., demonstrated for Financial Literacy Day attendees how he teaches financial literacy to a young audience.

Dellwo teaches a life skills program to children with disabilities at a public high school in the Syracuse area. The classes are made up students going for their individual education plan diplomas. Dellwo said the students realize that these diplomas are not going to be recognized as a regular diploma would, so his goal is to provide a program that is interesting and engaging enough to keep the kids coming back to school.

Dellwo uses what he calls a "fountain of wealth" to engage the students. The fountain of wealth is a homemade prop that demonstrates four key concepts of finances: income, expenses, assets and liabilities.